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Pictured with Ben Carson, Secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development are representatives of the Anthem Foundation and the American Lung Association to receive the 2018 HUD Secretary’s Award for Public-Philanthropic Partnerships (Photo: Business Wire)

July 17, 2018 09:00 AM Eastern Daylight Time

INDIANAPOLIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) in partnership
with the Council on Foundations yesterday recognized Anthem Foundation,
the philanthropic arm of Anthem Inc., with the 2018 HUD
Secretary’s Award for Public-Philanthropic Partnerships for its work
with the American Lung Association (ALA) to offer free smoking cessation
programs. Secretary Ben Carson presented the award yesterday at a
ceremony at HUD’s Washington, DC headquarters.

The HUD Secretary’s award recognizes collaborations between the public
sector and philanthropic organizations and their efforts to improve the
quality of life for children and families residing in public housing
developments across urban, suburban, and rural areas.

Building on a longstanding partnership, last year the Anthem Foundation
teamed with the ALA to introduce the Smoking
Cessation for Low-Income Housing Residents Initiative ahead of HUD’s
smoke-free housing policy, which is designed to reduce exposure to
second hand smoke and will be fully implemented at the end of July 2018.
In support of the initiative, the Foundation provided nearly $1 million
in funding to offer the ALA’s Freedom from Smoking® program
to residents in public housing developments located in 14 states across
the country. The program has an initial goal of enrolling 4,500 public
housing residents by June 2019, which is predicted to reduce second hand
smoke exposure for an additional 50,000 public housing residents in
those developments.

“Anthem is committed to building a better healthcare future for all
Americans and that means helping ensure individuals have access to
health care programs in their communities,” said Lance Chrisman,
executive director of Anthem Foundation. “Anthem Foundation
is honored to be recognized for our collaboration with the American Lung
Association and the more than 200 community organizations that have
joined us in ensuring individuals have the resources they need to quit
smoking, improve their lung health and prevent tobacco-related
illnesses.”

HUD’s new policy is aimed at helping to reduce the impact of second-hand
smoke which can be just as detrimental as first-hand smoke, especially
for children, who are at higher risk for premature birth, asthma,
respiratory infections and ear infections. The new policy comes with
recommendations from HUD that local housing authorities provide smoking
cessation resources to residents; working together, the Foundation and
ALA are helping to make that possible and providing easy access to
smoking cessation programs.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than
480,000 people die from tobacco use and exposure to second-hand
smoke every year in the US, making it the leading cause of preventable
death in this country.

About Anthem Foundation

The Anthem Foundation is the philanthropic arm of Anthem, Inc. and
through charitable contributions and programs, the Foundation promotes
the inherent commitment of Anthem, Inc. to enhance the health and
well-being of individuals and families in communities that Anthem, Inc.
and its affiliated health plans serve. The Foundation focuses its
funding on strategic initiatives that address and provide innovative
solutions to health care challenges, as well as promoting the Healthy
Generations Program, a multi-generational initiative that targets
specific disease states and medical conditions. These disease states and
medical conditions include: prenatal care in the first trimester, low
birth weight babies, cardiac morbidity rates, long term activities that
decrease obesity and increase physical activity, diabetes prevalence in
adult populations, adult pneumococcal and influenza vaccinations and
smoking cessation. The Foundation also coordinates the company’s
year-round Associate Giving program which provides a 50 percent match of
associates’ pledges, as well as its Volunteer Time Off and Dollars for
Doers community service programs. To learn more about the Anthem
Foundation, please visit http://www.anthem.foundation
and its blog at https://medium.com/anthemfoundation.